In the morning I headed, with the owner of the guesthouse, to the Ponsovanh police station. I figured there’d be at least one person who spoke english, but sadly there wasn’t. Using the guesthouse owner (whose english was pretty bad) as an interpreter, I worked my way through filling out an Incident Report.
Headed back to the guesthouse after that, and then immediately to the bus station to get a bus to Van Vieng. My luggage has been reduced to a small backpack, and some plastic bags for my shoes, and my remaining clothes. Pathetic looking, I am sure. The trip to Van Vieng was not as windy as the one from Luang Prabang, and pretty much without incident. There was a young Lao boy in front of me who seemed quite content to spend a few hours playing peekaboo with me.
I checked into the guesthouse, and then went in search of some clothes and a new bag. Not much luck in either department, but I did buy a small lock, which will be handy on the rooms in Laos that can take a padlock.
As I was checking out rock climbing trips for the morning, two owners of a travel agency asked me to write their sign for them. I implored them to use someone else, as my handwriting is terrible, but they insisted. I thought the sign looked awful, but they seemed to think it was fine.
Van Vieng is 95% tourists, and this is reflected most clearly in the restaurants and bars that play either Friends (mostly Friends) or Family Guy all day. It’s actually not a bad idea, as you can sit and enjoy your meal while watching some tv. I’m just surprised no other shows are represented. The Simpsons or Seinfeld would do well, I think. I had dinner and watched a couple of episodes of Family Guy, then tried to upload some pictures, but the internet was far too slow. Eventually I gave up and did some reading, before heading to bed.